Euphoria - A Balanced Sand Team

Welcome to my RMT! As you can tell by the title, Euphoria is a balanced Sand team. Ultimately the goal of this team is to sweep with SubSalac Terrakion or CM Latias, using Gothitelle to remove their counters. The Volt-Turn core of Rotom-W and Genesect provides scouting and makes it easier to trap things with Gothitelle. I've been using this team for a while now and it's definitely my favorite team to use. This will probably be my last RMT for a while because I can't stand the OU metagame as it currently is. That being said, I'd still like to perfect this team as much as possible so I've turned to the Smogon community for assistance in fixing the issues outlined in the threat list.​

With the recent surge in Dugtrio-based weather teams, Hippowdon is arguably the most reliable weather starter in the metagame. Its superb bulk and reliable recovery allows it to laugh off any attempts at being trapped by Dugtrio, something Tyranitar can only dream of doing. Thus, Hippowdon is excellent for winning weather wars which is crucial in this metagame. Although this team isn't reliant on Sandstorm to function, it makes dealing with opposing weather much easier by neutering Chlorophyll sweepers and Tornadus-T. The sand also provides Terrakion with a nice special defense boost. Hippowdon has many other important roles on this team besides controlling the weather. It is also my Stealth Rock user and primary check to most physical attackers in the game.

I normally prefer to use a specially defensive EV spread on Hippowdon but this team has enough special sponges with Latias and Rotom-W. Thus, the onus is on Hippowdon to check physical attackers so I need it as physically bulky as possible. The 12 special defense EVs prevent it from being 2HKO'd by Expert Belt Landorus' HP Ice even after Stealth Rock damage. The moveset is very straightforward. Earthquake provides STAB and hits pretty hard even without the attack investment thanks to Hippowdon's 112 base attack. Whirlwind provides pseudo-hazing and prevents Hippowdon from turning into set-up fodder. Slack Off provides recovery, keeping it healthy throughout the match and outlasting opposing weather starters. Stealth Rock provides residual damage and keeps threats like Multiscale Dragonite and Volcarona at bay.

Gothitelle is a fairly mediocre Pokemon that has been blessed with arguably the best ability in the game. I'm actually quite surprised that it's still rather uncommon. It's an excellent tool to have against Stall teams and it pairs well with many physical sweepers. In particular, Gothitelle is an incredible partner for Terrakion since it can trap and eliminate nearly all of Terrakion's counters. Similarly, Gothitelle can remove things like Forretress, Ferrothorn, and sometimes even Scizor so that Latias has an easier time sweeping. Furthermore, Gothitelle works well with Hippowdon by aiding in winning the weather war. Although it's not as good of a weather-trapper as Dugtrio, Gothitelle can pick off weakened Politoed and Ninetales to secure the weather war in my favor. In fact, non-Scarf Politoed are easy prey for Gothitelle since it can outspeed them and KO with Thunderbolt once they fall below 65% HP.

Psychic is the STAB move of choice. I prefer it over Psyshock because of its ability to 2HKO Gliscor which reduces the need for HP Ice. Thunderbolt is great for trapping Skarmory and weakened Politoed. Hidden Power Fire eliminates Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor. Sometimes I use HP Ice over HP Fire for Gliscor. Although Psychic does 2HKO it, SubToxic Gliscor can be a pain in the ass and Terrakion really appreciates having it removed. Trick allows Gothitelle to cripple just about any wall, such as Blissey and Chansey that would otherwise wall it. The EV spread is straightforward. 240 speed allows Gothitelle to outspeed a number of things, such as 72 speed Gliscor, Modest Politoed, and Adamant Breloom. This also means it can outrun practically any common wall. The random 16 special defense EVs guarantee that Specs Tornadus-T's Hurricane never OHKOs Gothitelle at full health.

I use Terrakion on many of my OU teams because of its incredible offensive prowess. While I normally prefer the nuking power of the Choice Band set, I decided to give the SubSalac set a shot after seeing Gimmick's RMT and was amazed at its ability to effortlessly sweep practically any kind of team. Stall teams struggle to wall a +2 Terrakion while most offensive teams fail to outspeed it once Salac Berry activates. Thus, many teams are unprepared for it, especially since it can easily bluff a Choice set. The special defense boost from Sandstorm along with Terrakion's decent bulk allows it to come in on many powerful attacks and survive with enough HP to trigger Salac Berry. Terrakion also forces many switches, making it easy to set up Substitute and put a ton of pressure on my opponent. With Gothitelle removing the majority of Terrakion's counters, it has little trouble sweeping through any team.

Close Combat and Stone Edge provide incredible neutral coverage together. Thus, very little is safe once Terrakion gets a Swords Dance boost in. Substitute protects it from revenge killers and can be used to activate Salac Berry. The EV spread is a simple offensive spread. Max attack to hit as hard as possible, while speed is maxed to outrun many Scarfers after the Salac Berry boost. 4 special defense EVs gives Genesect an attack boost through Download.

Latias is quite a versatile Pokemon that is often overlooked by Latios. Unlike her more offensive brother, she can be used defensively and offensively in whatever the situation calls for. Latias is primarily used in a defensive and supportive role on this team, only going for a sweep if the cards fall into place. Latias is my main answer to opposing weather teams since her typing provides her with key resistances to Water, Electric, Fire, and Grass attacks commonly found on those teams. Besides checking weather teams, Latias is my main answer to the plethora of powerful Fighting types in the OU metagame, such as Keldeo, Breloom, and Terrakion. It also checks many special attackers like Thundurus-T, Rotom-W, and Venusaur. Furthermore, Latias is an excellent partner for Terrakion since she lures in things like Tyranitar, Heatran, and Genesect which Terrakion can use as set-up bait. She also baits Dark type attacks for Terrakion to capitalize on with its Justified ability.

Calm Mind boosts Latias' excellent special stats to even higher levels. Dragon Pulse provides STAB and excellent neutral coverage. Psyshock provides secondary STAB and comes in handy in CM wars. It's also useful for checking the aforementioned Fighting types. Roost significantly improves Latias' longevity, allowing her to shrug off the weather-boosted Fire and Water attacks she takes. The special attack EVs ensure that Latias always OHKO's Keldeo with Psyshock after a Calm Mind, as well as securing an OHKO on offensive Dragonite with Dragon Pulse before a Calm Mind, after Stealth Rock. Max speed is crucial for outspeeding the likes of Terrakion and Keldeo. The remaining EVs are placed in HP for some extra bulk.

Rotom-W is the first half of my Volt-turn core with Genesect. The two form an excellent scouting duo which makes it easier to trap things with Gothitelle. Rotom-W is also my main answer to Rain teams alongside Latias, providing an important secondary Water resistance. It is my best check to Tornadus-T who is otherwise a huge threat to this team. That is why I opted to use a specially defensive EV spread; Tornadus-T's Choice Specs Hurricane is only a 3HKO on Rotom-W even after Stealth Rock damage. The specially defensive spread also lets it handle Rain-boosted Scalds and Hydro Pumps a bit better, and makes it an excellent check for many special attackers in general.

The moveset is the standard defensive Rotom-W set except with Thunder Wave over Will-O-Wisp. Thunder Wave neuters many fast special attackers, such as Latias/Latios that commonly switch in to check Rotom-W. With Latios/Latias paralyzed, they can no longer revenge kill Terrakion. Thunder Wave can also allows Rotom-W to act as an emergency check to Volcarona by paralyzing it so that Terrakion can revenge kill it with Stone Edge. Thanks to the EV spread, Rotom-W can even survive a +1 LO Bug Buzz from Volcarona after SR damage. ChestoRest allows Rotom-W to shrug off random Scald burns and Toxics and it bluffs a Choice set early game. The 28 special attack EVs guarantee an OHKO on Gliscor with Hydro Pump. 8 speed EVs for some speed creep against other bulky Rotom-W.

I'm sure most of you have never heard of this obscure set. Yeah...this set is about as bog standard as it gets but Genesect is truly an amazing Scarfer. It's primary duties on this team are to scout and revenge kill. Thanks to its incredible ability, typing, and stats, it performs these roles very effectively. Genesect is the second half of my Volt-Turn core along Rotom-W. The two make an excellent scouting pair and work well alongside Gothitelle's trapping abilities. Genesect is also an incredible lure for things like Volcarona and Heatran, which Terrakion can often force out and get a free Substitute.

The moveset is fairly standard. U-turn is used for scouting and is generally the move used most often. Iron Head isn't seen often on Scarf Genesect but it can be a decent secondary STAB option for killing the likes of Terrakion, Gengar, and Mamoswine. Iron Head also takes advantage of the fact that many people prefer giving Genesect an attack boost through Download. Ice Beam and Flamethrower provide excellent neutral coverage and can be used to revenge kill things like Dragonite and Lucario. I adjusted the EVs to better fit the needs of this team. In particular, the attack EVs guarantee that U-turn OHKOs max HP Latias after SR, effectively eliminating one of Terrakion's best checks. I prefer using Hasty over Naive so that Genesect has an easier time checking Latios/Latias. There's not much else I can say about Genesect. It does what it needs to do and it does it very well.

THREAT LIST​

The biggest threats to this team are Gengar, Breloom, Latios/Latias, and Deoxys-D. I really don't have a solid check for Gengar so I just have to hope it doesn't get behind a Substitute. Breloom is a pretty big problem since it can outspeed the majority of my team. Adamant Breloom is a bit easier to check since Gothitelle outspeeds it. Latias is my best check for Jolly Breloom so keeping it healthy is important. Despite having Genesect, Latios/Latias can be very difficult to switch into. Entry hazards in general are a pain since 4/6 of my team take damage from Spikes and Stealth Rock while 3 are susceptible to Toxic Spikes. Gothitelle can trap most hazard users but Deoxys-D has little trouble setting up layers against this team.

Hi Bribery, you've got a great team here and I love seeing more Gothitelle use. However, you do have some serious problems with opposing Latios, and even Latias (physically defensive Reflect variations in particular as they can get past Genesect barring a crit). Your only other way of beating them on this team is to speed tie with Latias, or sacrifice something to a Draco Meteor each time Latios comes in and try to sweep before you run out of pokemon. TR Reuniclus with Shadow Ball, and Gengar also look fairly problematic.

It's kinda tricky to see any changes you can make. I have two alternate suggestions which you could try out. You could go Tyranitar > Hippowdon, and then Sandslash > Terrakion to help with hazards and as a decent Terrakion check, while still keeping his role as a lategame sweeper whose counters are removed by Goth. However this option would make you incredibly weak to Genesect to the point where you'd need to think about changing other members as well (for instance, Amoonguss > Latias).

I think the least intrusive change would be to use some kind of Jirachi in place of Genesect - you could use Scarf Rachi, or a standard support Rachi, although that would then force you to use a different Scarfer somewhere on the team.

How do you deal with Hazards, if I see this team my instincts are to throw up hazards asap, sure none of your team gets hit hard with them, but by not having a way to remove them and no poison pokemon, your 1/2 of your team could be poisoned with 1 t-spikes not to mention the stealth rocks and spikes.

He can deal with the standard hazard setters fairly easily, and stall is eaten alive by Gothitelle. Tyranitar, Heatran etc are taking a massive risk staying first turn against Hippowdon. Deoxys-D does look like a big issue though, which is another reason you could consider the Tyranitar + Sandslash change I suggested.

This team seems more balanced than offensive to me (offense is my forté). On offensive teams generraly ttar is prefered over hippowdon.
This isnt a criticism, just a question, why 8 evs in def on latias?
And breloom? Cant gothitella take a dump on it?? And genesect can handle it too.
And as rotom shits on rain teams, id swap thunder on gene for iron head and id put most evs into attack anyway, as i find i often spam uturn with genesect and only lock myself into another move, very late game.
Hope this helps
Gl with team

the major threats to this team are the lati twins, gengar, and breloom; hazards can be played around but have the potential to really give you a hard time, especially if it's deo-d who's setting them up. i think defensive starmie could potentially work wonders on this team, probably over latias since it can fill a similar role in checking keldeo; it can spin with ease and it psyshocks gengar/breloom to the grave. switching it in is a bit of a tricky dance, but it can be done with smart play. also, an advantage starmie has over latias is the ability to ward off pursuiters with scald burns.

the lati twins are still an issue, but you can play around them with genesect; terrakion/gothitelle can also check them nicely if you manage to land a twave on them with rotom. one change that i think would be helpful is max special defense with careful on hippowdon; it takes away a mon specs latios can come in on, as draco meteor can never ohko which lets you slack off the damage and force it out. the special defense is also massively useful in all sorts of situations, give it a shot. if you do this, use a 25 defense IV so lead genesect gets an attack boost; without the +1 spatk, it won't even be able to 2hko with ice beam.

This set can very reliably trap and remove those two bothersome pokemon with Psychic, while maintaining the same moveset, and many of the same characteristics. The down side is that it becomes a little harder to remove key defensive threats. But I believe the pros heavily outweigh the cons. Not only are defensive 'mons no where near as prevalent in our current meta, but a Tricked Scarf combined with some Super Effective hits is bound to break even the toughest defenses, at the very least leaving them easy pickings.

An even smaller change to consider is changing Genesect's EVs to 112 Atk / 156 SpA / 240 Spe. The 12 EVs taken from Spe only help you speed tie against other Genesect(which is a coin toss and should be avoided). 240 Spe still allow to out speed everything else, including +1 Haxorus(rare but still a threat).

I absolutely love this team--and it's a great example of the increasing popularity of Gothitelle-Trap-Sweep teams. Also, not being biased or anything, but that SubSalac Terrakion is totally cool! I was reading over this RMT last night to formulate a rate today, but I couldn't exactly come up with any major threats that you couldn't play around, so I decided to give the team a try. I looked out for things that really hurt the potential of the team, and like everyone else said: Lati@s. However, I found something else to be a big pain in the buttocks--Venusaur. Although you do have sand to stop its sweep, Hippodown doesn't exactly appreciate switching into a LO Giga Drain. So I found myself forced into awkward switching (like Genesect to Hippo and back to Genesect to get sand up + outspeed), which ended up with unnecessary hazard damage and possible prediction. Venusaur is able to get a free Growth on Gothitelle locked into Tbolt, +0 Terrakion, Latias, Rotom-W, and Genesect locked into Tbolt; and from there could OHKO basically any Pokemon on the team. The best bet to taking it out is to sack something and then bring in a full HP Gothitelle, but if something happens to Gothitelle that would be unavoidable, Venusaur is very difficult to deal with. I'll try to cover both problems in 1 Pokemon so I don't ruin the synergy of the team: Heatran. Not any Heatran, though. It's basically a Specially Defensive RestTalk Heatran with Shed Shell, and was able to honestly 6-0 GeneSun teams back when Lavos's team was posted. It deals with offensive Sun teams extremely well and walls most Venusaur to hell and back. If said Venusaur has EQ, though, Latias deals with it. If they have EQ + HP Ice, Genesect deals with it. If it's the Standard Growth Sweeper (Growth/Giga Drain/HP Fire/Sludge Bomb), Heatran deals with it. EVEN IF IT HAS SLEEP POWDER, Heatran deals with it. Sorry, I'm getting a bit excited, lmao. With Heatran, Venusaur would be a non-issue to your team. That's not all, though. It also deals with the Lati twins, as it can switch into Draco Meteors galore, Roar out CM Latias for Genesect to deal with it, and provide a cushion for Tornadus-T. And that being said, I feel that replacing Rotom-W for this Heatran would be the most logical option. Although Rotom-W is a very good check to many rain teams, Latias is even better (which we're going to tweak in the next paragraph). Here's the set:

I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to EVs. I like to speed creep Heatran speed creepers, lol. That's what the 8 Spe EVs are for. The rest of the EVs supply the most special bulk possible. Shed Shell to escape the clutches of Dugtrio, making GeneSun extremely easy to deal with. RestTalk gives your team undeniably useful sleep fodder for Pokemon like Breloom and Amoonguss, and sometimes nab some nasty KOs with unsuspecting Sleep Talks.

Anyway, on to Latias. SubCM Latias is definitely an efficient sweeper, but I feel like Psyshock would be more useful over Substitute (for this team, at least). Psyshock allows you to hit Breloom much harder (which can do some MASSIVE damage if it's Jolly, since Gothitelle is OHKO'd by a +2 Bullet Seed), Terrakion in your sand (dang that Sp. Def boost!), CM Keldeo (has the potential to 6-0), Tentacruel (Hippo, Gothitelle, and SubCM Terrakion don't like Toxic Spikes), and Gengar (risking the Speed tie is worth killing a massive threat). It also hits a plethora of other Pokemon, but those listed are the majors (and reasonably large threats to your team). This is also a more solid check to Keldeo, meaning the loss of Rotom-W as a secondary Rain-check is a bit softer. Heatran also checks Volcarona, which would otherwise be a big threat once Rotom-W left. And so, with that, I finish. I hope these changes can benefit you! Good luck! :]

How do you deal with Hazards, if I see this team my instincts are to throw up hazards asap, sure none of your team gets hit hard with them, but by not having a way to remove them and no poison pokemon, your 1/2 of your team could be poisoned with 1 t-spikes not to mention the stealth rocks and spikes.

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Hazards are a big problem for this team, as I mentioned in the threat list. Like bubbly said, Gothitelle can trap most hazard users with ease but Deoxys-D has a pretty easy time setting up.

This team seems more balanced than offensive to me (offense is my forté). On offensive teams generraly ttar is prefered over hippowdon.
This isnt a criticism, just a question, why 8 evs in def on latias?
And breloom? Cant gothitella take a dump on it?? And genesect can handle it too.
And as rotom shits on rain teams, id swap thunder on gene for iron head and id put most evs into attack anyway, as i find i often spam uturn with genesect and only lock myself into another move, very late game.
Hope this helps
Gl with team

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Yeah I guess the team is more balanced than offensive :P

The 8 def EVs on Latias don't do anything special. I just don't like having an even number HP because of hazards/residual damage. Gothitelle can check Adamant Breloom pretty well. However, a lot of them are Jolly so it can't outspeed them and a +2 Bullet Seed easily OHKOs.

I like the Iron Head idea on Genesect. Thunder was mostly filler anyways. I've also been considering Bug Buzz or Explosion in that slot.

LOL. Please erase this moment from existence. Apparently I'm blind or something because I totally thought it said Substitute on Latias. I was looking at a different team at the same time, so... yeah. I guess I could say that Psyshock was a great choice on your part! So sorry!

Gr8 team man! SubSalac Terra is a ridiculous threat (tho i personally prefer chomp for that set) and i saw it in a lot on the ladder before i stopped laddering. Anyways, onto the suggestions:

I agree with joey about switching gothitelle to a scarf variant, since it beats both breloom and gengar, 2 featured threats to your team, though id reccomend HP Ice in lace of fire, considering gliscor (as i see it) is a massive pain in the ass to the team.

The other suggestion is switching latias EV spread to a more offensive variant of 240 SpA/252 Spe/ 16 HP, because it clean OHKOs genesect without even rocks, so you can hit it on the switch or while it is in if it is e belt, band or RP (and youre completely sure of it). Also, ferro is 2HKOd outside of rain. btw, i dont really think relying on gene to revenge dragons is a good idea with dragon spam becoming more and more popular this days, but i have no real change to do for that matter.

LOL. Please erase this moment from existence. Apparently I'm blind or something because I totally thought it said Substitute on Latias. I was looking at a different team at the same time, so... yeah. I guess I could say that Psyshock was a great choice on your part! So sorry!

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xD That makes sense. I was actually debating between Substitute and Psyshock, so thanks for justifying my choice. :P

Gr8 team man! SubSalac Terra is a ridiculous threat (tho i personally prefer chomp for that set) and i saw it in a lot on the ladder before i stopped laddering. Anyways, onto the suggestions:

I agree with joey about switching gothitelle to a scarf variant, since it beats both breloom and gengar, 2 featured threats to your team, though id reccomend HP Ice in lace of fire, considering gliscor (as i see it) is a massive pain in the ass to the team.

The other suggestion is switching latias EV spread to a more offensive variant of 240 SpA/252 Spe/ 16 HP, because it clean OHKOs genesect without even rocks, so you can hit it on the switch or while it is in if it is e belt, band or RP (and youre completely sure of it). Also, ferro is 2HKOd outside of rain. btw, i dont really think relying on gene to revenge dragons is a good idea with dragon spam becoming more and more popular this days, but i have no real change to do for that matter.

Hope i helped, and again good team.

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I'll test out Scarf Gothitelle since it would cover my weaknesses to Gengar and Breloom nicely. The problem with it is that it's really weak so it would make it harder to remove certain walls.

I'll try a more offensive spread on Latias since I have Rotom-W to check Rain teams, but I think the spread you suggested is for HP Fire (?) which I'm not using. I'm currently testing a spread of 88 HP / 168 SpA / 252 Spe and it's working well.

I changed Rotom-W to the ChestoRest set, mainly because random Scald burns were getting annoying. Also decided to use Iron Head > Thunderbolt on Genesect. It provides a way of revenge killing Gengar, Mamoswine, and Terrakion, and I never really used Thunderbolt.

I'm still testing some of the other changes. Starmie > Latias is most likely the change I will go with but it does make me more Sun weak.